Shushed repeatedly at the dinner table as kids, we took our arguments to the Vox Pop, an after school debate club that, unlike our parents, appreciated our contrarian natures. Which is why we're super excited about the Debating Society of India, a six-month old group that organises debates featuring leading experts across the country.

Object(ion) Of Desire

Their first event, coming up on Thursday will be held in Delhi at the Taj Palace, but the Society tells bpb that  they will be coming to Mumbai soon. Meanwhile, you can live stream the debate on their website. The first is an Indo-Pak (of course!) joint debate featuring speakers like Salman Haider, Kabir Bedi and Mani Shankar Aiyar for India and Javed Jabbar, Salman Raja and Najam Sethi for Pakistan. The event will be moderated by Shashi Tharoor and the subject is “Engagement between members of civil society is by far the most important factor in promoting a lasting peace between India and Pakistan.” Entry is by request only, and the seats are filling up fast, so if you're going to be in Delhi, get your passes soon.

Shake That (Re)buttal

Also look out for more debates, including one on India-Sino relations and another between globally famous academics from Oxford and Cambridge. You can also join the society, and participate in debate workshops presided over by seasoned debaters, scheduled for later in the year. Sustained!

Getting there: On January 10, at 6.30 pm, Taj Palace, Sardar Patel Marg, for passes email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with name and contact details or watch live webcast at www.debsocindia.com, to join the society email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or follow the Facebook page here.

Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Norah Jones will be touring India this March. Jones will headline A Summer’s Day Festival in Mumbai on March 3, which she will follow up with performances in New Delhi on March 5 and Bangalore on March 8. Norah Jones began her music career in 2001 when she released a set of samples called First Sessions, but her 2002 debut album Come Away With Me catapulted her into the global spotlight.

The album reached the top of the US Billboard 200, UK Album Chart and Australian Albums Chart, and its singles ‘Don’t Know Why’ and ‘Come Away With Me’, proved to be instant radio hits. Jones then swept the 45th Grammy Awards winning five awards including ‘Best New Artist’, ‘Album Of The Year’ and ‘Record Of The Year’. Come Away With Me was awarded diamond certification by the RIAA, and has sold more than 26 million copies since its release.

Jones followed this up by releasing her second album, 2004′s critically and commercially successful Feels Like Home, for which she bagged another three Grammy Awards. The singer-songwriter released other albums such as Not Too Late and The Fall before releasing a compliation called …Featuring, which features collaborations she has made with a wide variety of artists such as The Foo Figthers, Outkast, Herbie Hancock, Talib Kweli, Belle and Sebastian and many others. Last year, she released her latest album, Little Broken Hearts. Jones is the daughter of legendary sitar player, Ravi Shankar (who recently passed away), and the half-sister of Anoushka Shankar, a frequent visitor to the country, who also headlined the Delhi edition of the Bacardi NH7 Weekender 2012, in October last year.

Tickets for the upcoming tour are now on sale at www.nh7.in/norahjoneslive and Bookmyshow.com. In Mumbai, tickets are priced at Rs 3,000 and VIP tickets are Rs 7,000. Tickets for the Delhi show are priced at Rs 2,500, Rs 3,500, and Rs 6,500. In Bangalore, regular tickets are Rs 2,500 and VIP tickets are Rs. 6000. Early Bird tickets are on sale in Mumbai and Bangalore at Rs 2,000 in the regular category and are available for a limited period of time only.

 For more stories from NH7.in, click here.

The Definitive Guide To The Hangover

Greetings! And welcome to the other side of the holidays. Since you're reading this, one can only assume that you've survived the ritual onslaught of alcohol on your liver that generally encompasses the spirit of the season. And to kick things off in the new year, we'll start with something that may be relevant to most of you right now. The New Yorker has come out with a handy little piece called 'A Few Too Many', which is essentially the definitive guide to, and the history of, the hangover. Take out your notepads and grocery lists; this one has some wild stuff for the more experimental among you.

Hobbit-House-On-A-Budget

If you're a Lord Of The Rings fan (and whether or not you liked the recent effort from Mr. Jackson), this house-on-a-budget built by Simon Dale in Wales will have you asking for elevenses in no time. He did this entire thing himself (with help from his father-in-law and passersby) for a measly $5000. Which roughly translates to INR 2.7 lakhs, which is less than what almost any car in the market costs today. Environmentally friendly and beautifully designed, this is the kind of place that makes retirement suddenly seem like a blissful option.

The Original Pickpocket

There's something about a good con story that immediately grabs your attention. The smooth talking George Clooney character, living the globe-trotting life, is the stuff of most male fantasies. In real life, the person who actually does this for a living may not feature on People's 50 Sexiest Men On The Planet, but his talent is equally mesmerising, if not better. Apollo Robbins is one such man. Regarded as a legend in magic circles, this man is the original mind-freak, without the tattoos and excessive eye makeup. This piece, yet again by The New Yorker, is a fascinating character study of a man who makes a living from studying characters. And if it sounds too good to be true, here's a video that should put all your doubts to rest.

The Definitive Guide To The Hangover

Greetings! And welcome to the other side of the holidays. Since you're reading this, one can only assume that you've survived the ritual onslaught of alcohol on your liver that generally encompasses the spirit of the season. And to kick things off in the new year, we'll start with something that may be relevant to most of you right now. The New Yorker has come out with a handy little piece called 'A Few Too Many', which is essentially the definitive guide to, and the history of, the hangover. Take out your notepads and grocery lists; this one has some wild stuff for the more experimental among you.

Hobbit-House-On-A-Budget

If you're a Lord Of The Rings fan (and whether or not you liked the recent effort from Mr. Jackson), this house-on-a-budget built by Simon Dale in Wales will have you asking for elevenses in no time. He did this entire thing himself (with help from his father-in-law and passersby) for a measly $5000. Which roughly translates to INR 2.7 lakhs, which is less than what almost any car in the market costs today. Environmentally friendly and beautifully designed, this is the kind of place that makes retirement suddenly seem like a blissful option.

The Original Pickpocket

There's something about a good con story that immediately grabs your attention. The smooth talking George Clooney character, living the globe-trotting life, is the stuff of most male fantasies. In real life, the person who actually does this for a living may not feature on People's 50 Sexiest Men On The Planet, but his talent is equally mesmerising, if not better. Apollo Robbins is one such man. Regarded as a legend in magic circles, this man is the original mind-freak, without the tattoos and excessive eye makeup. This piece, yet again by The New Yorker, is a fascinating character study of a man who makes a living from studying characters. And if it sounds too good to be true, here's a video that should put all your doubts to rest.

What: Safecity, www.safecity.in, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or download the Android app here, the iPhone app here, free.

Why: Ladies, how many times have you ignored a lewd comment on your way to work? Apart from maybe complaining about it to some friends, there’s really no way to pin point that location for other women passing through the same area. Or is there? Safecity aims to do just that, with a real time updated map that shows areas where women are harassed. We clicked through to Mumbai and learned that men misbehave at the Wadala Station Road and there’s a serious lack of railway police force on the harbor line. Even though it’s a new site, the updates have (sadly) grown since we checked in a couple of days ago, but it’s nice to know that someone has your back.  Location and incidents can be posted via email, Twitter, phone app and the web.

When: You want to end New Year’s Eve teasing.

It's time to put all your obsessive Instagramming to good use - the United Nations Women India chapter is helping raise awareness for violence against women with a cool photo competition. Here’s how it works: submit a photo depicting what freedom from gender-related violence means to you. The contest allows a maximum of three photos per participant, and each one must be accompanied by a 100 word caption along with details on where the photograph was taken.

The top three winners, decided using Facebook votes and a jury, will win cameras and be showcased at the Commission on the Status of Women in New York this spring. If you want to check out the competition, you can browse the Lead Board on their Facebook page to view how many votes entries have already garnered.

Contest closes February 10, 2013; photos displayed March 2013 onwards. Go on, join the click!

Getting there: UN Women India photo competition for Freedom From Violence For Women & Girls, visit the Facebook page to know more and participate, entry free.

This month's playlist is stolen from two concerts, some particularly musical Facebook profiles (thanks Meher and Nadir) and a long love letter. Singing along highly recommended. 

Download the podcast or hear online here.

Into the Wild - LP

Mexico - The Staves

Blues Run the Game - Jackson C. Frank

Home - Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes

Up With The Birds - Coldplay

The Blower’s Daughter - Damien Rice

Anjane - Strings

Maria - Animal Liberation Orchestra

The Long Haul - NO

Have a favourite song? Send us your recommendations to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and if we love them, we’ll add them to next month’s track record!

In this weekly column, filmmaker Danish Aslam will be your purveyor of the finest quality random facts, useless trivia and other esoterica from the world wide web. He lives mostly behind a keyboard and may or may not be a wizened old green man who speaks in grammatically incorrect aphorisms. You can find more on his home page http://pictually.me/dontpanic

Greetings Earthlings. I talk to you from the other side of the Apocalypse. As we are thus engaged in conversation, one can only surmise that the world still spins madly on. And since we have successfully navigated our way to the end of yet another Armageddon-free year, it's time for that traditional end-of-the-year activity: the recap!

Since 'Best Of' normally becomes the most over-repeated phrase around this time of the year, I decided to not swim against the tide and add my little two cents as well. So here's a curated uber-list of my favourite lists from the millions floating around out there. Have a good non-Mayan holiday and may you ever be the first into the nuclear bunker when the meteor strikes.

The Most Searched: To kick things off, the ultimate list of all that mattered based on that most ubiquitous of barometers: what did you search for? Google's Zeitgeist 2012 video is the perfect snapshot of everything that made us fire up those browsers and hit 'Search'.

The Best Video Games: What better way to bring in the New Year than pretty much how you spent the previous one: with a wireless controller in your hand and infinite worlds in front of you? And here's the definitive list of said worlds, courtesy IGN. 

The Top 10 Kisses: Why? Just  because. Everybody's a sucker for a good love story; and it doesn't get more soppy than this . And nobody said this list was going to make sense.

The 50 Most Brilliant, Obnoxious, Or Delightfully Sociopathic Facebook Posts: Need I say more? Whether or not all of these are real, they still make for a hilarious read.

The Most Popular How-To Guides: For all the fellow geeks out there, here's something that should whet your whistle.

The Best Tech Gifts Of The Year: As the website says, "Can't find it here? Then it's probably not worth having." FYI, if anybody's feeling particularly generous, the 'Gifts For Mac Lovers' section is my personal favourite.

YouTube's Most-Viewed Ads: Most of the stuff that floats around on the idiot-box only serves to justify the name while selling us something we definitely don't need. But sometimes the stuff they use to sell you stuff turns out to be really interesting stuff in itself. So here's some of the best.

The Best (Worst?) Typos, Mistakes and Corrections: Because one can never have enough of good grammar. And because the typo-police is just around the corner.

The Best Long Reads: Now this is a list that may take you some time to get through, but at the end of it you may just be a better person. One of my personal favourites, this one is a treat for all lovers of non-fiction and competent journalism.

The Year's Top YouTube Stars: The power of the video has never been more obvious than in 2012. When an ironic commentary on a Korean suburb can become the most danced-to song in dandiya season, you realise how powerful the internet has become (Skynet alert!). And YouTube decided to do their own little tribute by inviting some faces that you might recognise to star in this mashup. Rewind YouTube Style!

What: Make your own Christmas decorations at The Hab, G-1, 444 Corporate Lounge, road no 7, Linking Road , Khar (W), call 61274444, priced between Rs 100 to Rs 500 per piece.

Why: You have a pretty skirt for the holidays, it’s only fair that your Christmas tree has one too. Get quick DIY lessons in making tree skirts, ornaments, stars and wrapping paper using beads, stones, sequins, lace and ribbons at The Hab, Bandra’s super fun craft studio. Don’t forget to make some mistletoe now. Smooch!

When: You want Christmas to be sew pretty.

In this weekly column, filmmaker Danish Aslam will be your purveyor of the finest quality random facts, useless trivia and other esoterica from the world wide web. He lives mostly behind a keyboard and may or may not be a wizened old green man who speaks in grammatically incorrect aphorisms. You can find more on his home page http://pictually.me/dontpanic

Kim-Jong Un-do The Internet

Dictatorships are fascinating. In a morbid sort of way, but fascinating nonetheless. And the one that fascinates me most is probably the ironically named Democratic People's Republic of Korea, popularly known to the world as North Korea. Or, as good old Kim Jong-Un probably calls it while throwing one of his temper tantrums: "MY Country, you evil American bastards!"

Of the many weird, dysfunctional and downright stupid things that the people in this country are made to deal with, one of the funniest has to be their internet, as this BBC piece reveals. Fun fact: any web page that mentions Supreme Leader KJU's name has to include a piece of code that ensures his name is ever-so-slightly bigger than the words around it. Every single time. Hey, at least they don't have the usual Mac vs. Windows debates since every single computer there has to run on Red Star, North Korea's own OS that's in keeping with the country's values. They have their own freaking OS! The next time you complain about your computer not being intuitive enough or some such non-issue, read this piece and thank your lucky stars.

Real-Life Video Games

Video games are fun. Mainly because most of the time you know that when Raven whips your ass with his patented Grave Digger move, you can just switch off the console and get back to your life sans the broken bones. But there are some people (like the guys who get kicked in the nuts on Jackass, for fun) who don't think that's realistic enough. And so they wire themselves up to a PlayStation console so that they get electric shocks every time their character takes damage while playing Tekken. And then there's the type of people who lock themselves up in an abandoned hospital and try to escape a la Resident Evil. These and many more real-life versions of video games are available for your bemused perusal in this piece from the good folks over at Cracked.

1,892 Cover Songs

Cover songs are great. And fun. Especially when you're least expecting one. I love that first moment of recognition when the person who's been waxing eloquent about how ethereal Yael Naim's voice sounds in this song suddenly realise that this is the same Britney Spears song that they claimed was final proof that the apocalypse was nigh. John James at Esquire loves cover songs too. Which is why he's compiled a list of 1,892 cover songs every man should listen to. It's pretty much as comprehensive as a list can get, so there's not much more I'd like to add here except for: “Fire up the iTunes!"